James Anderson leaves the game enriched far beyond the bare statistics of a monumental career
Vithushan Ehantharajah12-Jul-2024On Tuesday, the eve of James Anderson’s farewell Test match, he received a present from Adidas – a box-fresh pair of commemorative bowling boots for this one-off Test.Stitched onto the straps were two dates: “22.05.03” on the left, “10.07.24” on the right, the starting days of his first and last Test. Billion-dollar corporations can do sentimentality too, you know.”I didn’t ask for them,” Anderson said, with one last rally against enforced pomp. “I thought I’d better wear them to keep the sponsors happy. It wasn’t my idea.”Cricket lends itself to this kind of qualitative imprinting, and Anderson’s era-spanning career only encourages that. His 704 career wickets may as well be carved into stone, likely to stand forever as the third most in Test cricket. His name is already etched into the honours board seven times at Lord’s, but the MCC also went to the trouble of printing scorecards of all 29 of his appearances at this ground. They even handed him a decanter engraved with the details of this last outing.Related
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Everything that can be counted can be printed, visualised, chucked in a graphic and embroidered. Even refunded, as day three fell 2.5 overs shy of the 15-over cut-off. And yet, as a statistical titan bowed out of a numbers-obsessed pursuit, the game’s true quality shone through in his final moments.Cricket, at its heart, is a shared love. Passed on, cultivated, and paid forward. For the last 21 years, Anderson has been a handy vessel for this age-old exchange.Alec Stewart (who turned 61 in April) messaged Anderson’s 12th and final international wicketkeeper, Jamie Smith (24 today), to remind him that he was the first back in 2002. Chris Woakes, now the senior leader of the pace attack, was taught the wobble seam delivery by Anderson in 2014, who had perfected it three years earlier.Gus Atkinson, who had plucked up the courage to ask Anderson for a selfie in the West Indies in 2007, now knows the importance of the team victory over personal glory. His attempt to apologise for not leaving Anderson the final wicket was greeted with a well-meaning “f*** off”.Even the walk off the field was an emotionally binding moment for all involved. “There was an overwhelming feeling out there, that this was the last time we’d get to walk off the field with Jimmy,” Ben Stokes said. “And also the last time the crowd would get to see Jimmy leave the field.”At 2pm, MCC invited that crowd onto the Lord’s outfield. Half congregated under the England balcony at the pavilion and were duly rewarded by the sight of Anderson draining a pint of Guinness. The rest had broken out into their own mini games of cricket.
My daughter batting and my son doing the fielding, they got no idea but one day they will @jimmy9 https://t.co/dzWpqkjtOQ
— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) July 12, 2024